1. The Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein is in the field of human limb positioning, more particularly the field of surgical patient extremity positioning. More particularly, the invention is in the field of kits designed for stabilizing surgical patient extremities during specific orthopedic surgical procedures via procedure specific coated foam forms.
2. The Relevant Technology
During the coarse of executing many surgical procedures, more specifically, orthopaedic procedures, it is helpful to hold an unconscious patient""s arm or leg in a specific position. Traditionally, this has been accomplished by constructing custom extremity supports from coiled up surgical towels, surgical blankets, surgical sheets and sterile adhesive tape. Inherent problems with this approach include time-consuming construction, consumption of costly supplies, instability, lack of reproducibility and a tendency for structural deterioration during long procedures.
In an attempt to provide more efficient support of patient extremities during surgical procedures, two basic classes of devices have evolved; mechanically adjustable devices and non-adjustable foam devices.
Of the mechanically-based devices, devices may be further delineated as adjustable surgical tables (U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,825, Reesby 1994), frames that attach to the surgical table (U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,943 Michelson 1984, U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,523 Englander 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,981 Converse 1988) or mechanical, electrical and/or hydraulic mechanisms that hold an extremity (U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,079 Zahiri 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,698 Reed 1986, U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,858 Peterson 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,334 Lamb 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,551 Bailey 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,309 Lechner 1987).
Of the non-mechanical devices, devices may be further delineated as whole body supports for blood flow control, patient comfort, ease of x-ray cassette insertion and the like (U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,647 Goodwin 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,268 Lotman 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,375 Coonrad 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,081 Smith 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,997 Lussi 1998) non-mechanical extremity.supports for non-surgical applications (U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,792 Kogan 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,743 McMillin 1998) and shape-conforming xe2x80x9cbean-bagsxe2x80x9d (U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,404 Sakita 1973, U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,205 Hiebert 1999).
There currently exists a void amongst the mechanical and non-mechanical devices for surgical stabilization of patient extremities. While the mechanical devices offer adequate stability and control, they are technically difficult to utilize, require significantly long set-up times, are relatively expensive and are not readily mobile from one operating table to another. On the other hand, the non-mechanical devices provide adequate patient comfort but in general, fail to directly address extremity stabilization and support. The devices that do address extremity support (Kogan 1980 and McMillin 1998) are not designed for the facilitation of surgical procedures but rather for individual user comfort.
There exists commercially available products, such as the Protecta-Coat Positioners from AliMed Inc., Dedham, Mass. USA, that offer a range of coated, foam blocks which are suitable for patient positioning during surgery. The shapes are of general utility but do not specifically address the extremity positioning requirements of specific orthopaedic trauma procedures. The shapes are of one size for each design, therefore, not affording a close fit for a wide size range of patients. The individual pieces are presented as single unit devices as opposed to a well-coordinated kit of pieces designed to cover a range of specific orthopaedic surgical procedures. The presently available commercial products also fail to make available a means for convenient and orderly storage of the individual coated foam pieces.
The orthopedic trauma positioning kit of the present discussion consists of a set of polymer-coated foam shapes which when taken together yield a comprehensive device for extremity positioning during orthopedic trauma surgical procedures. The kit consists of all the pieces required for the positioning of all extremities for a wide size range of patients and for all commonly required orthopedic trauma upper and lower extremity surgical procedures. The kit is housed in a multi-sided storage structure to facilitate organization of the individual pieces and to minimize the required storage space. The combination of multi-sized, polymer-coated foam shapes specific for given surgical procedures housed in a custom storage system constitutes the orthopedic trauma positioning kit.